Clarity is the First Step Toward Healing.
When emotional struggles persist, or when symptoms don’t seem to fit neatly into a category, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Many people reach this point feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or uncertain. Sometimes months or even years pass by when they are still trying to make sense of what feels wrong.
A Mental Health Assessment and Psychological Consultation offer a space to slow down and reflect. It invites careful exploration of your experiences, without rushing toward a diagnosis or checklist. Here, the focus is not just on symptoms, but on the whole person. We look at their history, emotional patterns, and the unconscious dynamics that may quietly shape their life. These are collaborative, reflective conversations, where your story is held with seriousness and curiosity. A diagnosis may emerge if it is clinically helpful, but never at the expense of your individuality. The aim is not only to ask what’s wrong, but to wonder about what has happened and what it might mean.
This work draws on evidence-based clinical tools as well as a psychoanalytic approach, which recognises that suffering often speaks through repetition, contradiction, and even silence. There is no expectation to arrive with the right words, or to explain everything clearly from the beginning. The conversation unfolds at a pace that feels manageable, with time to pause, reflect, and return to things that may be difficult to speak about all at once. What matters most is that you are met with genuine attention and openness, so that what has remained hidden, confusing, or fragmented might begin to take shape in a new way.
You don’t need to fit neatly into a category to be taken seriously. The aim of the consultation is not to pathologise, but to listen carefully, to think alongside you, and to offer a deeper understanding of what might be happening. From there, we can then know what might be needed moving forward.
This can be a thoughtful starting point for therapy, a place to seek clarification after past confusion, or simply a space to begin speaking differently about your experience.
Mental Health Assessments and Psychological Consultations focus on clinical symptoms, diagnostic clarification, and psychological wellbeing. It is often used to identify or clarify emotional, behavioural, or psychiatric conditions that impact day-to-day mental health and wellbeing. Commonly assessed conditions are:
Ongoing sadness, emptiness, or loss of motivation that doesn’t easily lift. It might feel like everything has slowed down—or like there’s a heavy weight sitting inside, even when life looks fine on the outside.
Experiencing emotional highs (periods of high energy or feeling overly confident) and lows (deep sadness or emptiness) that feel extreme or hard to manage. These shifts can sometimes make it difficult to feel steady in everyday life.
Constant worry, fear, or tension that doesn’t seem to switch off—even when there’s no clear reason. This can show up as social anxiety (fear of being judged), panic attacks (sudden overwhelming fear), or a general sense of feeling unsafe in the world.
Unwanted thoughts that feel intrusive and repetitive, often leading to compulsive actions (like checking, counting, or repeating behaviours) in an attempt to feel safer or more in control.
Reliving past traumatic events through flashbacks, nightmares, or strong emotional reactions. Sometimes it feels like the past is still happening, or like it’s hard to fully come back to the present.
Emotional disconnection, feeling “outside” of your body, memory gaps, or a deep sense of confusion about identity—often linked to ongoing or early-life trauma that hasn’t been fully processed.
Patterns of thinking, feeling, or relating to others that cause long-term difficulties, especially in relationships or self-esteem. These are often rooted in deep emotional wounds and aren’t simply “personality flaws”—they’re survival strategies that may no longer be working.
Having recurring thoughts about not wanting to live, without being in immediate danger. These thoughts often reflect deep pain, hopelessness, or a wish for relief from emotional suffering—and they deserve to be taken seriously and understood with care.
Experiencing breaks from reality, like hearing voices, seeing things that others don’t, or holding beliefs that feel out of step with the world around you. These experiences can be confusing and frightening without support.
Physical symptoms like weakness, seizures, or difficulty speaking that have no clear medical explanation, but are very real. Often, the body is expressing emotional struggles in ways that words haven’t been able to.
Finding it hard to adjust after a major loss or life change. This could include the death of a loved one, a breakup, illness, or other transitions that leave you feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or lost.
Feeling deeply uncomfortable with your assigned gender, or struggling with identity, belonging, or acceptance around sexuality or gender. This can involve complex emotions that deserve space and understanding, free from judgment.
Feeling emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted from constant pressure—whether at work, school, or in relationships. It often shows up as irritability, detachment, or a sense of being completely drained.
Frequent and intense emotional shifts that feel hard to predict or control—going from calm to overwhelmed, or joyful to hopeless, sometimes within hours or days.
Struggling to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get restful sleep, often because of racing thoughts, underlying anxiety, or unresolved emotional tension that surfaces at night.
For individuals who have long felt something “isn’t quite right” or for those navigating uncertainty in their mental health, a psychological consultation and mental health assessment provides clinical insight, and direction. Many people seek consultations when symptoms persist or return despite previous treatment. Others are not necessarily looking for a diagnosis, but for a deeper understanding of why certain patterns in their thought, mood, behaviour, or relationships persist and continue.
I offer psychological consultations and mental health assessments that are:
Consultations and assessments often involve a combination of clinical interviewing, behavioural observation, standardised psychometric tools, and where relevant, collateral information (e.g., reports from GPs, schools, or allied health providers). This approach is suited to individuals who feel stuck, misdiagnosed, misunderstood, or simply curious about the unconscious roots of their distress.
A mental health assessment and psychological consultation offer something more than just a label. It offers the opportunity to speak, to be heard in depth, and to begin understanding what may have remained unsaid for a long time. Whether you’re feeling uncertain, overwhelmed, or just looking for a different way of making sense of your experience, this may be a place to begin.
Each assessment or consultation is tailored to the individual but typically involves:
1. Initial Consultation
A reflective clinical interview exploring personal history, presenting concerns, emotional themes, and early relational dynamics.
2. Structured Questionnaires or Standardised Tools
Used where helpful to support diagnostic clarity but not relied upon as the sole source of meaning.
3. Psychoanalytic Listening & Clinical Observation
Close attention to patterns in speech, affect, and symbolic expression, such as what is repeated, left out, or difficult to say.
4. Feedback Session & Report
A reflective summary or clinical letter (if needed) that focuses on meaning, structure, and appropriate therapeutic directions.
As a Clinical Psychologist Registrar, my role in psychological consultation is not simply to diagnose, but to listen closely, reflect carefully, and understand the broader structure of your emotional life. My experience working across schools, therapeutic programs, and private practice brings together an evidence-based assessment and a psychoanalytic way of thinking that values reflection, language, and the deeper layers of experience. I’m interested in helping people make sense of what they’re going through.
In our work together, emotional distress isn’t pathologised rather it’s explored with care and curiosity. This approach can be especially helpful for people whose symptoms have been misunderstood, dismissed, or treated only at the surface. Clinical reports or written summaries can be provided when needed, particularly for coordination with GPs, psychiatrists, NDIS applications, or school/workplace accommodations.
Above all, the goal is to meet each person where they are, with clinical clarity and emotional depth.
A Psychoanalytic Approach to Consultation and Assessment
Where many consults and assessments aim to categorise, psychoanalytic thinking asks:
In this approach, the focus is not simply on what’s visible, but on what returns beneath the surface. This seeps through emotion, behaviour, and the symbolic weight of language. Clinical consultations here take seriously the idea that psychological suffering is structured and meaningful, even when it appears chaotic or confusing.
For many people, a psychological consultation and mental health assessment is the first step toward understanding themselves differently. Whether you’re preparing to begin therapy, or just feeling lost and unsure where to turn – this process can offer insight, direction, and a sense of being taken seriously.
If you’re ready to book an assessment or simply want to learn more about the process, I’d love to hear from you.
